1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a device for securing decks to houses. The device is an "L"-shaped body having a short leg, a long leg, a plurality of bolt holes in each leg and at least one triangular brace supporting the legs. By the use of this device, deck ledger beams may be firmly attached to band boards and floor joists of houses to prevent the collapse of decks.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is the current practice to attach deck ledger beams to the band boards of houses when constructing decks in new or existing houses. The flaw in this procedure is that band boards were never intended to be weight-bearing parts. Therefore, when a deck become stressed by having a large number of people on it or because of strong winds, the band boards of the house pull away from the house structure and the deck collapses. As decks become more popular, this potential for property damage and injury to the occupants and guests occupying the decks becomes more common. To the inventors' knowledge, there are no known devices for attaching the band board of a house to the joists of a house so as to make the band board a structural weight-bearing part of the house.
The prior art is aware of various brackets for attaching structural pieces of wood, concrete, or steel.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,321,221 to Linehan discloses a bracket for connecting a joist to the foundation of a structure. This bracket is prepared from a single sheet bent in such a way as to form a "L"-shaped body having, a short leg, a long leg, and a triangular brace along one side of the body. Because of the way this bracket is manufactured, the short leg will always contain an overlapping of two layers of the sheet. It would be impossible for the brace to be located along the center line of the bracket or for the bracket to have a pair of side braces. Also, because of the method of manufacture, it would be impossible for the brace to extend only part of the way along the short leg of the bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,164 to Humphrey discloses a support which will aid in the attachment of a fascia board to the rafters of a roof of a house. This support has an "L"-shaped section which attaches to a rafter and an "L"-shaped section which connects to a fascia board. This support is constructed from a single piece of metal and has the capacity to be so angled as to fit against the sloped rafter and the vertical fascia board. This support is so constructed that the panel of the section fitting against the rafter will abut with the panel of the section fitting against the fascia board, and these two panels can be held in position by nails going into the rafter. No "L"-shaped bracket is disclosed by this patent, and no brace between the two legs of an "L"-shaped bracket is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,621 to Jensen discloses a holddown useful for attaching a vertical stud to a horizontal concrete floor. This holddown contains a two-layered bottom section containing a single hole, a multi-angled back section, and two multi-angled side sections which extend to the outer edge of the bottom section. Due to the fact that the back and the bottom of the disclosed holddown fail to form a 90.degree. angle at their juncture, the use of the holddown for securing band boards and ledger boards to joist beams would be difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,570 to Leek discloses a tension tie for securing structural members to each other. The device is made of a single piece and contains an "L"-shaped body comprising a long leg, a short leg and two triangular side members. The short leg must contain four layers and a single hole. The side members extend to the edge of the short leg.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,781 to Egawa et al discloses in Example 3 a metal fastener containing copper cladding for attaching wooden structural pieces. The fastener is an "L"-shaped piece containing a long leg, a short leg, and a triangular piece going from the end of the short leg to the side of the long leg. The triangular piece must be along the edge as it serves as a support for a structural piece. The long leg does not abut against any structural piece.